Quett Masire

Ketumile Joni "Quett" Masire (23 July 1925-22 June 2017) was President of Botswana from 13 July 1980 to 31 March 1998, succeeding Seretse Khama and preceding Festus Mogae. He was a member of the Botswana Democratic Party.

Biography
Ketumile Joni Masire was born in Kanye, Bechuanaland on 23 July 1925, and he was trained as a teacher in South Africa and returned eventually to become a journalist and the editor of the African Echo. Together with Seretse Khama he co-founded the Botswana Democratic Party in 1962 and became its general secretary. Deputy President since Botswana's independence in 1966, he held several ministries (such as for finance and planning) until he succeeded Khama as president. He opposed the apartheid regime and granted asylum to many African National Congress activists, but otherwise pragmatically sought good working relations with South Africa. His attempts to reduce his country's economic dependence on South Africa were counteracted by the droughts of the 1980s and early 1990s. Seen as the embodiment and guarantor of his country's stability and relative prosperity, he was re-elected several times. In 1998, he retired, and he died in 2017.